Hard
Words
The
single sentence that blarred through the radio signal from almost a
quarter-million miles from the Earth sounded simple, even routine “Houston,
‘we’ve got a problem. Hard words: “your fired”, not married; “I am pregnant”,
“we are getting a divorce”, “I am gay”.
What would be hard words for us to hear? I am sure we have all heard
“hard words” at one time or another in our lives. Our heart beat increases, our
sweat glands go on red alert, we watch as our tear drops explode on the floor,
anger and rage may start to rule the day. Sometimes these “hard words” we hear
may cause us to consider whether we should continue in this relationship or
not. Jesus often times said some things in the Bible that would cause those
that heard them to pause, ponder and then decide to stick with it or hit the
road to Samaria.
John 6:60, 67-69 states, "On hearing it, many of his
disciples said, "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?.... "You
do not want to leave too, do you?" Jesus asked the twelve. Simon Peter
answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal
life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of
God." After
Jesus makes the statement, “You do not want to leave too, do you”, I wonder
what the thought process was inside the heads of the disciples before Peter
answered? Who is to say that Peter spoke for everyone with his Biblically
correct answer? Have we ever answered correctly but in our hearts we weren’t
100% sure of our answer maybe not even 50% sure?
He does not promise ease and comfort on this earth. On the contrary, he
promises hardship and difficulty. He promises persecution and rejection. He
will tell us that if we really took him seriously, if we really obeyed his
commands and followed his teaching, then friends will abandon us, family will
hate us, and the world may prefer to kill us. Are we willing to follow Him
after hearing more “hard words”? How have you been persecuted by following
Christ? What have you given up after hearing and obeying His “hard words”?
It
is interesting in the Great Commission the easiest part of being a Disciple of
Christ is to be baptized. How much persecution did you suffer when you went
down into the water? Probably none (oh I know some of you are thinking that
water was awfully cold), it’s the coming up out of the water and learning all
about Jesus and how to follow Him that’s challenging. That could be possibly one
of the most shocking thing you have discovered in your life. Jesus didn’t say
anything about it being hard to go to church and pray and study the Bible. In
fact those are pretty “wimpy commands”. Let’s face it, if those things are
challenging someone didn’t teach you about what being married to Jesus for life
was going to be about, sad!
Can you imagine a modern day
someone that would be really hard to follow. Just watch Inside Edition
sometime, you could pick someone. How about Justin Bieber? Of course we could take the really hard way
to follow someone, just become a twitter follower, not much commitment there. It
really is hard sometimes to follow Christ, but we have to remember, He is the
Holy One of God. There is no one else we could ever pick to follow that would
give us the protection and rewards that Jesus provides. Give us the strength to follow your ways no matter
what hardships may come.
Life in heaven for and eternity makes any “hard words” form Jesus well worth it.
